Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: Philippians

  • Philippians: On Grace, Faith, and Works

    The following is another extract from the forthcoming study guide on Philippians in the Participatory Study Series, by Dr. Bruce Epperly:

    For Paul the issue is two-fold: 1) the status of Gentiles as members of the Christian community and 2) the relationship of grace, faith, and works. As apostle to the Gentiles, Paul affirms that God’s grace is universal and freely-given. God’s grace includes all persons, regardless of ethnicity and race. Just as all have sinned and fallen short, Jew and Greek alike, all are equally welcomed into God’s realm. To place certain requirements on Gentiles would fracture our unity in Christ and place them in the category of second class Christians, who must do something extra to receive God’s freely given grace. If we must do something extra to receive God’s grace and our place in the community of faith, then the grace of God is nullified and is dependent on our achievements. In practice, then a person will never know if he or she has done “enough” to receive God’s grace and promise of salvation in this life and the next. While Paul recognizes that grace leads to action, our ethical actions and religious practices do not earn God’s love. God loves us because we are God’s beloved children, regardless of our sin and brokenness (53).

  • Philippians: Two Groups That Threaten Community

    I haven’t blogged much, recently and I may go back and look at some earlier, lessons, but I wanted to quote something we’ll be looking at in class this morning. This comes from the forthcoming study guide to Philippians by Bruce Epperly. He has just described two groups, the first those identified in 1 Corinthians who believe their spirituality means they are freed of all constraints, can “eat and drink whatever they choose,” “sleep with whomever they choose,” and that they are “freed from all moral and social norms.” The second group believe that they must observe “strict rituals and diet.”

    Here’s the payoff quote:

    Paul believes that both groups share a common characteristic. Their focus on the body as the primary reality puts both Christian freedom and the well-being and unity of the community in jeopardy. While Paul is not a legalist, who demands strict obedience to rules, or an ascetic, who scorns the flesh, he subordinates our desires, values, and lifestyle to the well-being of less mature Christians and the harmony of the church.

     

  • Helps and Keeping Up Your Greek

    Dave Black has another good paragraph on keeping up your Greek:

    I will not go into the mechanics of keeping up with your Greek this summer. For this, you can refer to my book Using New Testament Greek in Ministry, published by Baker Book House. Con Campbell and a host of other Greek teachers will tell you that the use of helps such as interlinears is anathema. Do I agree? You bet I don’t! Do I really care what helps you use? I want those of you who are struggling with your Greek to employ any tool available that will keep you in the Greek text. And if you are feeling like a nobody, just remember that God specially chooses nobodies to glorify Himself. The success or failure of your Greek studies depends on the extent to which your thoughts and attitudes and habits are brought under the control of the Holy Spirit. Our constant daily priority is to submit ourselves to the Spirit’s control so that His fruit may be manifest in our lives. I am the ultimate egalitarian when it comes to languages. Greek is for everyone who has a love for Bible study. It is hoped that through our class many will be led into a deeper knowledge of God’s Word and challenged to become more obedient to the call of God on their lives — despite their struggles and failings. Being able to read your Greek New Testament is one of the most joyous and rewarding activities possible, and I have labored diligently to equip you for this task. I make no pretense of having successfully accomplished this. But I have tried. Ultimately, however, the work is God’s. Now let us trust Him to accomplish it!

    Dave already linked to my own previous post on this topic, so I hardly need to add anything.

    But I will anyhow!

    The key problem I find amongst pastors and teachers who are not in an academic environment is not that they lack skill discovering lexical forms (though they generally do), but rather that they don’t have enough exposure to Greek text to provide context and background to their study, or more precisely, they take so look piecing together individual Greek words, that they can’t really study the passage.

    The best solution to this, in my opinion, is to read quantities of Greek. Large quantities. Reader’s lexicons and interlinears make that possible. Don’t neglect digging in and learning the nuts and bolts. But if you’re already used to the sound and feel, you’re going to find it easier to practice the details.

    Even though I always get in trouble on this, I must recommend both memorization and reading aloud. One of my own methods for keeping my Greek fresh is to read passages aloud and record myself doing so. I then put them on CDs which I have in the car. Right now I have Philippians, 1 John, and the first 8 chapters of Romans. I started doing this when I was teaching and noticed that my pronunciation was not as fluid as it once had been. I have been quite horrified to hear some of my “slips of the tongue” when listening to myself, but things have gotten better as I put this into practice.

    Besides, if you want your spirits lifted, there’s nothing quite like the text of Philippians to listen to as you drive!

     

  • The Risen Christ is Know Initially by His Wounds

    From the forthcoming study guide to Philippians (from my company, Energion Publications), in commenting on Philippians 1:27-30:

    Even now in our time, we can take confidence in Paul’s assertion that God is with us and that, in life and death, and celebration and persecution, Christ sustains us. We are resurrection people. But, our lives are also cruciform or cross-shaped. The Risen Jesus is known initially by his wounds, and we too may experience suffering and loss as a result of our relationship with Christ. Still, at the end of the day, integrity, fidelity, and the promise of resurrection life  far outweigh any trials of this lifetime.

    Update: The author of the book is Bruce Epperly.

    (Excerpts from this forthcoming study guide are used by permission of the author as I edit the book. If you’re interested in reviewing this book, slated for a July 31 release, e-mail pubs@energion.com.)

  • There are Things Worth Contending For

    And some that aren’t …

    After much of what I heard about Paul in school, which was really rather a lot, I think one of the most important things to remember when reading Paul’s letters is that they are letters, and that Paul writes pastorally. He is not writing systematic theology. On the other hand, he is writing theology. He’s just doing it in a pastoral way to address particular situations in churches or with persons.

    I’m correctly working through advance copies of the forthcoming study guide to Philippians by Bruce Epperly, which will be part of the Participatory Study Series, with my Sunday School class. Now I love the book of Philippians. In fact, right now it’s one of the books I have recorded for myself in Greek on CD to listen to in my car, and it’s something I really enjoy hearing. There are so many powerful passages for daily Christian living.

    If you study just Galatians, you might get the idea that Paul was contentious with very little tolerance for any sorts of differences of opinion. You’d be wrong if you did–well, he’s a bit contentious, true–but you could do so by ignoring the situation and the nature of the issues he’s addressing in that letter.

    In Philippians we see another style, in which Paul can even celebrate (with some reservations) those who preach the gospel from bad motives. Let me quote Epperly on this point:

    Once again, Paul trusts God to be providentially working through a variety of Christian messages. While Paul would surely fault his opponents for their lack of ecumenical hospitality, he still recognizes that their message may advance the gospel message by bringing people to an experience of the Risen Christ. Now, I must admit this is a tall order. While most of us recognize that unity does not mean uniformity, there are times when we find it difficult to affirm God’s presence in those groups whose beliefs, worship style, ethics, or experiences differ from our own. Could it be that Paul is advocating a “big tent Christianity,” large enough to embrace progressives, moderates, evangelicals, Pentecostals, and conservatives? Could it be that Paul, for whom theology is very important, nevertheless, places experiencing Christ above doctrinal differences?

    Now while I might see Paul faulting these opponents for more than a lack of hospitality, I do see much of Paul in Philippians in that paragraph. The situation and the issue tends to drive the letter. Differences in Paul’s theology are generally driven by differences in the churches he’s addressing. His interest is in reaching and guiding people, rather than in expressing a systematic theology.

    “Guiding people” and “expressing theology” are not opposed. Paul expresses theology in order to guide people. The pastoral view guides what theology is expressed, where and how.

    There’s some controversy about contentious material in chapter three and how it relates to the generally positive and joyful tone of the letter. I see no more conflict here than I do with the belief that Paul could write both Galatians and Philippians, a view which is pretty much unchallenged. At least I know of no serious argument that Paul didn’t write both. The difference is the issues for which Paul is contending.

    In other words, there are things worth contending for, and others that are not.

  • Clergy in Philippians 1:1

    It’s been awhile since I made a comment regarding the Orthodox Study Bible. In preparing for my study of Philippians with my Sunday School class, I read the OSB notes on the book. Regarding the phrase episkopois kai diakonois in verse 1, it has the following note:

    This is the only epistle in which St. Paul includes the clergy, the bishops and deacons, in his address. St. John Chrysostom says this is because it was the clergy in Philippi who collected the funds Paul so badly needed and sent them to him by Epaphroditus. Bishops are the leading presbyters. By the time this letter was written, around AD 63, not only were bishops present in Philippi, but James was presiding over the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13) and tradition reveals that Peter was bishop in Antioch–and later in Rome. … (emphasis in original)

    I question whether this isn’t a bit anachronistic for the time period in question, whether one sees Philippians as written in the 55-56 range (with an assumed imprisonment in Ephesus) or in the 61 range.

    I note with interest (and some approbation) the New Jerusalem Bible’s rendering: “presiding elders and deacons,” though I think “deacons” sounds more churchy than necessary. The NRSV textual note, “overseers and helpers” has much to commend it as well.

  • Philippians Study

    I’m going to have the privilege over the next eight weeks of teaching from the book of Philippians using advance copies of a new study guide. The study guide was written by Dr. Bruce Epperly, and will be released by my company, Energion Publications, in July. This will be the next release in the Participatory Study Series, from which this blog derives its name. I’m going to blog about it as I work through it with my class and present a few extracts and comments.

    For the record, I still have a number of things to write from my ongoing blogging about James (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary) and Chronicles (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary). I have a number of notes, but haven’t had time to write any of them up.

    I must confess that Philippians is one of my three favorites from the Pauline corpus, the other two being 1 & 2 Corinthians. Yes, I prefer what I regard as the more practical and less theological letters. It’s really a close call, because I really do appreciate the others as well, but I think I have to give those three the edge, and I think that they are often neglected in favor of Pauline theologies developed largely from Galatians and Romans. But that’s another topic!

    The Letter to the Philippians is an example of practical theology, in which the church is called to live the faith it affirms. Paul has a strong sense of divine providence. While God does not control or determine every event, nevertheless, “in all things God is working for good.” (Romans 8:28) God is working in the Philippian church and will, through their fidelity, bring God’s good work to fulfillment, a harvest of righteousness. God rules the world through loving affirmation and humility rather than power and violence. Unlike Caesar, Jesus Christ does not seek to “lord it over” creation, but seeks to heal and save broken humanity. Christ’s path of humble service serves as a model for Christian living. Rather than rugged individualism and self-interest, Christians are called to serve one another, willingly sacrificing so that others might flourish.

    I think that’s a good description–“practical theology.” Indeed it is! Now “practical” doesn’t mean “shallow.” Nor do I mean that Galatians, for example, isn’t practical. But Philippians is directed to application.

    I’m going to give one more short quote from the first lesson:

    In proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord, Paul is implicitly placing Jesus ahead of Caesar. Imperial rulers will come and go, but God’s Living Word endures forever.

    Just so!

  • Lent 1A – Theme

    Well, I’m back again on one of my irregular forays into lectionary blogging. I hope visitors in the meantime have found value in the links to other people’s lectionary blogging found in my sidebar.

    It’s not hard to find a theme in this week’s lectionary texts, nor to imagine why those are the texts for today. I think the Romans passage ties the theme together nicely, and if I were to teach this myself, I’d probably start from that point.

    Paul tells us that one sin made everyone into sinners, and thus one obedient man, or one act of obedience (carried throughout his life) could make us right with God again. Our texts simply point to the pieces of the puzzle. In Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7, we have the original temptation and fall. Here the first couple are placed in the Garden of Eden, but directed away from the tree. Yet they eat in any case.

    In Matthew 4:1-11, we have the opposite effect. Note that in Matthew 4:1, it is the Spirit that leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted. Even more so than Adam and Eve were directed away, Jesus was directed into the test so that he could pass and show that he would reject divinity, improperly offered.  Adam and Eve were human and wanted to be gods. Jesus was God and accepted humanity (Phil. 2:5-11).

    The final element of this puzzle is Psalm 32 which, in my view, connects us to the other two. It describes guilt, repentance and forgiveness. It is repentance, a turning to God and away from evil, that allows us to be incorporated into the family that Christ represented in his act(s) of obedience. Lent is not just about the fall and redemption. It is about us becoming part of that new family of faith, incorporated into God’s family, established by the obedience of Jesus Christ.

  • Dave Black on Philippians

    Matt Capps has collected links to Dave Black’s online writings on Philippians. As one of Dave’s publishers, I’m glad to see the list.

  • Text Today – Worth of the Gospel?

    This text struck me this morning.  How often to we forget this part of the gospel?

    27Only carry out your activities in a way that is worthy Christ’s good news, so that whether I come and see you or whether I’m away, I’ll hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, putting out your effort together as one person to advance faith in the good news. 28Don’t be afraid of those who are against you under any circumstances.  Their stand demonstrates that they are on the way to destruction, while yours shows you are on the way to salvation, and that it comes from God.  29Because you have been graciously granted not only the opportunity to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him.  30You face the same battle that you saw me have, and now you hear I still have.  — Philippians 1:27-30 (a bit paraphrased)